The Shocking Truth About Palm Oil

Whether you realize it or not, you are likely consuming palm oil every single day. Palm oil is the most widely used oil in the world. You will find it in the majority of the packaged foods you buy at the grocery store. You are likely eating it every time you go to a restaurant. Even the foods you get at health food stores contain palm oil. The amount of palm oil used in our foods has dramatically increased over the past few years. In an attempt to reduce the amount toxic trans fats in our foods, food manufacturers have been replacing hydrogenated vegetable oils with other oils, principally palm oil. However, is this a wise move? Palm oil contains a high percentage of saturated fat. Some people have questioned the addition of more saturated fat into the diet. What effect will it have on our health? Some say it will increase the risks of heart disease and obesity, while others claim it will protect against these conditions and promote improved health. The media has loudly sounded the alarm against palm oil citing massive deforestation and the destruction of native wildlife as virgin land is cleared for oil palm cultivation. Yet, others claim the media’s attack against palm oil is nothing more than a cleverly orchestrated publicity campaign spearheaded by the competing seed oil industry. With all of the conflicting information in the media and on the Internet, it is difficult to separate fact from fiction. What is the truth? Is palm oil destroying our health and the planet or is it of benefit to us and the environment? This book exposes the lies and who is behind them, and reveals the facts.

Oil palms are ubiquitous—grown in nearly every tropical country, they supply the world with more edible fat than any other plant and play a role in scores of packaged products, from lipstick and soap to margarine and cookies. And as Jonathan E. Robins shows, sweeping social transformations carried the plant around the planet. First brought to the global stage in the holds of slave ships, palm oil became a quintessential commodity in the Industrial Revolution. Imperialists hungry for cheap fat subjugated Africa's oil palm landscapes and the people who worked them. In the twentieth century, the World Bank promulgated oil palm agriculture as a panacea to rural development in Southeast Asia and across the tropics. As plantation companies tore into rainforests, evicting farmers in the name of progress, the oil palm continued its rise to dominance, sparking new controversies over trade, land and labor rights, human health, and the environment. By telling the story of the oil palm across multiple centuries and continents, Robins demonstrates how the fruits of an African palm tree became a key commodity in the story of global capitalism, beginning in the eras of slavery and imperialism, persisting through decolonization, and stretching to the present day.

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This book is the first to examine the battle for public opinion that palm oil faced from the days of Phil Sokolof's American Heart Association (AHA) in the late eighties and the curiously named Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) right up to the present day Greenpeace, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Friends of the Earth (FOE) and the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and will analyze how the tables were turned on them. What was uncovered in the process of battling the formidable forces arraigned against palm oil was, shocking even to us, to say the least, when we finally managed to peel away the mask and discover the true identities of the organizations which provided the funding and virtually helped orchestrate and plan these dubious campaigns against palm oil! What were the motivations and real reasons for millions of dollars to be committed to these campaigns? The answer will shock most readers for this powerful adversary hides behind a facade of respectability and sanctimony. As this is an ongoing battle, identities and names such as individuals and organizations (including the author) behind the fight- back will be protected. The forces arraigned against palm oil have, collectively, more than a billion dollars in annual funds alone at their disposal and have never been known to be hesitant to throw the weight of their money behind legal attempts to restrain such expose . The book will be divided into 3 parts: Part 1 covers the history of palm oil, examines the inherent qualities of this versatile oil and explores the reasons why it is targeted. Part 2 recounts the history behind the attacks against palm oil. Part 3 details the current fight to expose the surrogates used to discredit palm oil and reveals who provided the funding and why. In general the book advocates for and will serve as a playbook for a political model of crisis management for corporations, organizations and individuals rather than the conventional PR approach which will be ineffective in the face of financially or highly motivated adversaries! It is written in a no-holds-barred style and focuses on the methods used by these green groups against palm oil. This book can serve as an action plan and blueprint for organizations wishing to take on and expose individuals, groups or organizations who create environmental or other adverse issues to victimize industries for the sole purpose of raising funds or other ulterior reasons. Finally, in this explosive expose, this book illustrates how the internet and social media acted as a great leveler and how together they helped democratize this fight by enabling and facilitating an under-resourced and underfunded outfit with a modest budget to fight against the networked might of environmental NGOs with billions of dollars of combined assets and massive"

Finalist, Helen Bernstein Book Award for Excellence in Journalism In the tradition of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation, a groundbreaking global investigation into the industry ravaging the environment and global health—from the James Beard Award–winning journalist Over the past few decades, palm oil has seeped into every corner of our lives. Worldwide, palm oil production has nearly doubled in just the last decade: oil-palm plantations now cover an area nearly the size of New Zealand, and some form of the commodity lurks in half the products on U.S. grocery shelves. But the palm oil revolution has been built on stolen land and slave labor; it’s swept away cultures and so devastated the landscapes of Southeast Asia that iconic animals now teeter on the brink of extinction. Fires lit to clear the way for plantations spew carbon emissions to rival those of industrialized nations. James Beard Award–winning journalist Jocelyn C. Zuckerman spent years traveling the globe, from Liberia to Indonesia, India to Brazil, reporting on the human and environmental impacts of this poorly understood plant. The result is Planet Palm, a riveting account blending history, science, politics, and food as seen through the people whose lives have been upended by this hidden ingredient. This groundbreaking work of first-rate journalism compels us to examine the connections between the choices we make at the grocery store and a planet under siege.

The rapid development of oil palm cultivation feeds many social issues such as biodiversity, deforestation, food habits or ethical investments. How can this palm be viewed as a ‘miracle plant’ by both the agro-food industry in the North and farmers in the tropical zone, but a serious ecological threat by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) campaigning for the environment or rights of local indigenous peoples? In the present book the authors – a biologist and an agricultural economist- describe a global and complex tropical sector, for which the interests of the many different stakeholders are often antagonistic. Oil palm has become emblematic of recent changes in North-South relationship in agricultural development. Indeed, palm oil is produced and consumed in the South; its trade is driven by emerging countries, although the major part of its transformations is made in the North that still hosts the largest multinational agro industries. It is also in the North that the sector is challenged on ethical and environmental issues. Public controversy over palm oil is often opinionated and it is fed by definitive and sometimes exaggerated statements. Researchers are conveying a more nuanced speech, which is supported by scientific data and a shared field experience. Their work helps in building a more balanced view, moving attention to the South, the region of exclusive production and major consumption of palm oil.

It's in our instant noodles and chocolate bars, our lipsticks and fuel tanks. But what is palm oil, and how has it come to dominate our lives so completely?Jocelyn C. Zuckerman travels across four continents and back in time two centuries to find answers about the most widely used vegetable oil on Earth. The obscure oil palm fruit, she discovers, has played an outsized role in history, from greasing the gears of the Second Industrial Revolution to transforming the economies of Malaysia and Indonesia. But this little fruit also belies an industry of vicious exploitation and ruinous damage to our planet. The multi-billion-dollar palm oil business has been built on stolen land and slave labour, once spurred the colonisation of Nigeria, and has swept away lives and cultures. Fires lit to clear the way for plantations spew carbon emissions to rival those of entire industrialised nations. Mass deforestation so ravaged the landscapes of Southeast Asia that animals like the orangutan now teeter on the brink of extinction. Combining history, travelogue and investigative reporting, 'Planet Palm' offers an unsettling, urgent look at the global palm oil industry, illuminating what has today become an environmental, public health and human rights disaster.